The Duterte administration says it is doing measures to counter the rising costs of goods in past weeks.
Roque made the statement after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the country’s headline inflation further quickened to 4.7 percent in February from 4.2 percent in January.
MALACANANG has assured the public that the government is implementing proactive measures to tame the rise in consumer prices after inflation zoomed to 4.7 percent last February,
In a press statement, Roque said the uptick in the country’s inflation is just temporary.
“Our economic managers see the upward inflation trend as temporary and concerned agencies in the Executive branch continue to check the prices of basic commodities while ensuring that prevailing rates are likewise fair to suppliers,” he said.
Roque made the statement after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the country’s headline inflation further quickened to 4.7 percent in February from 4.2 percent in January.
February’s reading marked the highest inflation rate since January 2019.
The uptrend in last month’s inflation was driven by the rise in prices of heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages, which was at 6.7 percent in February, compared to 6.1 percent the previous month, the PSA reported.
The latest inflation rate was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' forecast range of 4.3 percent to 5.1 percent in February.
Roque assured that the government is taking steps to address the increasing prices of basic and prime commodities.
“We are intensifying efforts to ease inflation through immediate interventions, such as augmenting the supply of meat. We have implemented proactive measures,” he said.
(ONT/With report from PNA)